Combo 710:Pros
- Linear gripper
- Overall heavier duty
- $70 bucks lessCons
- poorer mounting system
- leery of the turn table "ball bearing", don't know if this is an asset or a flaw (if it's good, this would be a pro).
- not sure how well the tension rod is attached to the ratchet...
- still scarily similar to the alpha pioneer dc plus...

Alpha Story
ok, this whole is made more complex by the fact that i just had to return a newly bought Alpha Pioneer DC plus. i was wholly unimpressed, and i was just having problem after problem. all in spite of their great reputation.

Here's what happend:

1) Box arrives. I open and right away go "uh oh!"... this looks EXACTLY like what i expected would come from eagnas. it did NOT look like a quality machine. at least with eagnas, i would be expecting this. strike 1.

2) after the first job, the tension rod started to come loss from the ratchet drum. not good. i managed to tighten it, and next job... loose again. strike 2.

3) one clamp basically stopped working after 6 jobs. the other one was flawless, so the non-working one was definitely bad. not a big deal, but for a new machine from a "great company". boo.... strike 3.

4) the next thing to go wrong with the pioneer dc plus was the turn table began to clamp up and squeak. out of the box it was great nice and smooth. 6 job latter... nothing but squeaks and "rough" places in its rotation. strike 4.. didn't know that was possible... and now i'm losing patience and confidence.

5) email mark my story... get a no-hesitation return with the paid shipping both ways. A++ for that.

Conclustions:
- Alpha is a great company to work with.
- Alpha quality is/can be suspect (IMO, overrated on these boards).
- Most people make of their judgments about companies based on subjective data that the read about in forums, rather than objective data based on their products. This applies to Eagnas and Alpha, but in converse ways. I will soon own an Eagnas machine, and i will give you a direct objective comparison of both brands.

upon further investigation i found out that in 2006 alpha switched manufactures to a place in china instead of taiwan. it was during this switch that their quality plummeted. so if you have a machine that from alpha that is prior to 2006 is a good one... after that i highly doubt they are any better than eagnas... with a few 100 extra on the price tag, which might be a good price for the customer service. but i also think once you buy and eagnas machine, they will take care of you too. you just need to show them a little commitment. at least with eagnas, i know what to expect in terms of quality and service. it's impossible for them to surprise me... but alpha did manage to surprise me ... in a big way.

Hi, while everyone is entitled to to their opinion, I feel the need to state that we have had MANY satisfied customers that have purchased our machines. We have sold plenty of both Revo's and Pioneer DC Plus. FACT is that we started making our machines prior to 2006. We have factories both in China and Taiwan.

There are times when a machine goes out the door and it just bombs, even the most fundamental thing like a screw holding the bar, it's just as frustrating for us as it is to you. Unfortunately yours was one of them. On average we refund 5 machines per year, total. I apologize that this happened to you.

TennisWarehouse is one of our biggest distributors and I'm sure that Don would not continue to sell our machines if there were consistent quality issues. I admit that we will have clamps or mounting arms flare up from time to time, but I can assure you that we are not the only ones.

We enjoy our work at Alpha and to be honest, when we have been out of stock of machines, we have pointed customers to Gamma because of the professional reputation they have, we know that they will take care of their customers as well.

Combo 710:Pros
- Linear gripper
- Overall heavier duty
- $70 bucks lessCons
- poorer mounting system
- leery of the turn table "ball bearing", don't know if this is an asset or a flaw (if it's good, this would be a pro).
- not sure how well the tension rod is attached to the ratchet...
- still scarily similar to the alpha pioneer dc plus...

Alpha Story
ok, this whole is made more complex by the fact that i just had to return a newly bought Alpha Pioneer DC plus. i was wholly unimpressed, and i was just having problem after problem. all in spite of their great reputation.

Here's what happend:

1) Box arrives. I open and right away go "uh oh!"... this looks EXACTLY like what i expected would come from eagnas. it did NOT look like a quality machine. at least with eagnas, i would be expecting this. strike 1.

2) after the first job, the tension rod started to come loss from the ratchet drum. not good. i managed to tighten it, and next job... loose again. strike 2.

3) one clamp basically stopped working after 6 jobs. the other one was flawless, so the non-working one was definitely bad. not a big deal, but for a new machine from a "great company". boo.... strike 3.

4) the next thing to go wrong with the pioneer dc plus was the turn table began to clamp up and squeak. out of the box it was great nice and smooth. 6 job latter... nothing but squeaks and "rough" places in its rotation. strike 4.. didn't know that was possible... and now i'm losing patience and confidence.

5) email mark my story... get a no-hesitation return with the paid shipping both ways. A++ for that.

Conclustions:
- Alpha is a great company to work with.
- Alpha is does not sell quality products.
- Most people make of their judgments about companies based on subjective data that the read about in forums, rather than objective data based on their products. This applies to Eagnas and Alpha, but in converse ways. I will soon own an Eagnas machine, and i will give you a direct objective comparison of both brands.

upon further investigation i found out that in 2006 alpha switched manufactures to a place in china instead of taiwan. it was during this switch that their quality plummeted. so if you have a machine that from alpha that is prior to 2006 is a good one... after that i highly doubt they are any better than eagnas... with a few 100 extra on the price tag, which might be a good price for the customer service. but i also think once you buy and eagnas machine, they will take care of you too. you just need to show them a little commitment. at least with eagnas, i know what to expect in terms of quality and service. it's impossible for them to surprise me... but alpha did manage to surprise me ... in a big way.

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I would vote 'nothing from Eagnas' but you don't have that option listed.
I would like to see what happens if you have problems with your Eagnas purchase.

Hi, while everyone is entitled to to their opinion, I feel the need to state that we have had MANY satisfied customers that have purchased our machines. We have sold plenty of both Revo's and Pioneer DC Plus. FACT is that we started making our machines prior to 2006. We have factories both in China and Taiwan.

There are times when a machine goes out the door and it just bombs, even the most fundamental thing like a screw holding the bar, it's just as frustrating for us as it is to you. Unfortunately yours was one of them. On average we refund 5 machines per year, total. I apologize that this happened to you.

TennisWarehouse is one of our biggest distributors and I'm sure that Don would not continue to sell our machines if there were consistent quality issues. I admit that we will have clamps or mounting arms flare up from time to time, but I can assure you that we are not the only ones.

We enjoy our work at Alpha and to be honest, when we have been out of stock of machines, we have pointed customers to Gamma because of the professional reputation they have, we know that they will take care of their customers as well.

Wish you the best with your new machine.

Mark Gonzalez

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i hope you don't view my "review" as baised or unfair. a lot of people are looking for info advice and feedback here, and i'm just trying to do that to the best of my ability.

i very well accept that the machine i received from you was the occasional "lemon", that's fine. but i'm also an engineer and rather good at spotting quality and good design. i think most of the issue i saw seemed like quality not design issues. but i'm still glad for you and the many customers that were entirely happy with their machines. i really wish i was one of them. when i first placed my order with you guys, i really had a sense of pride in buying an alpha. maybe i just had too high or unrealistic hopes... maybe that was the only problem.

i buried this "review" in an unrelated post intentionally. i did NOT want it to come off as just some hot heavy handed bitter "alpha bashing", but i did want to provide info for those that who might find it useful.

I would vote 'nothing from Eagnas' but you don't have that option listed.
I would like to see what happens if you have problems with your Eagnas purchase.

Rod

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nope. that options was left off intentionally. i'm just comparing 2 machines as if they were the only ones left on the planet. if you can set your pre-concieved notions aside and make as objective of a vote as possible, that would be appreciated.

nope. that options was left off intentionally. i'm just comparing 2 machines as if they were the only ones left on the planet. if you can set your pre-concieved notions aside and just vote, that would be appreciated.

also, have you owned or used an eagnas? what machines have you used?

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If I had to pick between two Eagnas, I would not buy one. Their reputation precedes them. I will not take a chance on a second rate company.

I have used Prince, Ektelon, several types of dropweights and now I own a Gamma 5003. I do not own an Eagnas, and have not used one.

i'm down to the Eagnas Combo 710 or the Flash 767. I would also have considered the Challenger I. But it looks way too much like the Pioneer DC plus that i don't dare.

- QUOTE]

Of the two, I like what I see on the Combo 710. Also, to me the Combo 710 and Challenger I look like the same machine except the paint job. I guess the dropweight mounting base is a little different. The Combo 710 comes with the newer 3 prong clampbs. Not really sure what you don't like about the Challenger I.

Of the two, I like what I see on the Combo 710. Also, to me the Combo 710 and Challenger I look like the same machine except the paint job. I guess the dropweight mounting base is a little different. The Combo 710 comes with the newer 3 prong clampbs. Not really sure what you don't like about the Challenger I.

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my primary concerns among these machines are the string gripper and the turn table bearing. the photos of the 710 bearing look better than the Challenger I, and the Challenger I bearing looks a lot like the Alpha Pioneer DC plus bearing which i had bad luck with. That's the main reason i'm not considering the Challenger I. The Flash 767 on the other hand doesn't even have a bearing. it's just a long strong shaft and bushing, which may in fact be better than a bearing given the continual loading and unloading during tensioning.

Man...since you "do not own an Eagnas, and have not used one" maybe you should not be voting on this or responding. Pick one of the other 10,000 threads on the board.

Nousername - I bought an EAG-300 because I am a cheap *******. Can't comment on the two models you are asking about, but now I am a happy cheap *******!!

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i don't mind if he votes. i actually WANT him to vote if he can just set aside his biases and make an objective decision based on these two machines along.

i personally wouldn't consider myself "cheap", but i do like it if i can save money. i simply look for the most efficient way to spend my money, i.e. i try to get the best value. to be honest, that's why i first bought with alpha! even though they were about $200 above my budget at the time. i did my research, and thought i was making a wise cost-effective decision.

fyi... i took the plunge and placed my order for a Flash 767. i'll give a review and post some pics once i receive it and get a chance to string with it.

why the flash 767 ...

- primarily just my gut feeling ... which partially related to the fact that the Combo 710 like the challenger I are just too similar to the DC plus (yeah, they're made in different facilities, but possibly suffer from the same design/quality issues). other than that, i will definitely miss the linear gripper. i'm just *hoping* the rotational gripper isn't as bad as others make it sounds, and that the mounting system, turn table, and tower please me enough to offset.

for days, i would say "combo 710" and try to order but couldn't. then the next day it would be the 767... same thing, i'd try to order but couldn't... finally i said enough already... flash 767. end of story.

fyi... i took the plunge and placed my order for a Flash 767. i'll give a review and post some pics once i receive it and get a chance to string with it.

why the flash 767 ...

- primarily just my gut feeling ... which partially related to the fact that the Combo 710 like the challenger I are just too similar to the DC plus (yeah, they're made in different facilities, but possibly suffer from the same design/quality issues). other than that, i will definitely miss the linear gripper. i'm just *hoping* the rotational gripper isn't as bad as others make it sounds, and that the mounting system, turn table, and tower please me enough to offset.

for days, i would say "combo 710" and try to order but couldn't. then the next day it would be the 767... same thing, i'd try to order but couldn't... finally i said enough already... flash 767. end of story.

Its made in taiwan...6 jobs so far and its been great ($320ish w/ shipping)

overall Im happy
cons-there was a nick on the tension drum but its far down (can be dangerous especially for stretchy strings-notch it = bad string job...you know) will probably smoothen it out via dremel...

fyi-first time I bought one and "regret" I shouldve bought this long time ago to $$$$ave
I totally didnt want to order from Eagnas coz its my first time to get a stringer (cust serv hassles)
++they have 100%+++ feedback on the "E" site

so if I were you---Id save up and wait to buy a crank gamma or alpha revo (probably in a year or so I would)

i don't mind if he votes. i actually WANT him to vote if he can just set aside his biases and make an objective decision based on these two machines along.

i personally wouldn't consider myself "cheap", but i do like it if i can save money. i simply look for the most efficient way to spend my money, i.e. i try to get the best value. to be honest, that's why i first bought with alpha! even though they were about $200 above my budget at the time. i did my research, and thought i was making a wise cost-effective decision.

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Look forward to your review; you have basis for comparison. Most reviews are from 1st time experience. I have owned 2 Eagnas machines, and so far both continue to operate flawlessly.

Its made in taiwan...6 jobs so far and its been great ($320ish w/ shipping)

overall Im happy
cons-there was a nick on the tension drum but its far down (can be dangerous especially for stretchy strings-notch it = bad string job...you know) will probably smoothen it out via dremel...

fyi-first time I bought one and "regret" I shouldve bought this long time ago to $$$$ave
I totally didnt want to order from Eagnas coz its my first time to get a stringer (cust serv hassles)
++they have 100%+++ feedback on the "E" site

so if I were you---Id save up and wait to buy a crank gamma or alpha revo (probably in a year or so I would)

i'm really biased about drop-weights and other constant pull devices. so i wouldn't ever buy a crank. the only thing i'd upgrade to other than a standard drop-weight is a stringway or laserfibre... but i just don't got the cash for that.

as long as this machine (flash 767) is built well, and if i can bear the rotational gripper. i think i'll be fine for a while.

i'm really biased about drop-weights and other constant pull devices. so i wouldn't ever buy a crank. the only thing i'd upgrade to other than a standard drop-weight is a stringway or laserfibre... but i just don't got the cash for that.

as long as this machine (flash 767) is built well, and if i can bear the rotational gripper. i think i'll be fine for a while.

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Hello nousername,.. i happened to come across your post. Any feedback on the Eagnas Flash 767 ?? Thanks